SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 7, 2013) - Instacart (www.instacart.com), the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, is now offering a new service for customers called Instacart Express. Much like Amazon Prime, Instacart Express is an annual membership that eliminates delivery fees for all orders of $35 or more. Customers can sign up for a free two-week trial at www.instacart.com/express.

Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta, a former Amazon.com engineer, decided to broadly launch the Instacart Express service based on the success of an earlier trial and on customer demand. "We find that so many Instacart customers get hooked on the convenience of same-day grocery delivery and begin using Instacart once a week or more," said Mehta. "A customer like that can save more than $200 a year in delivery fees by signing up for Instacart Express."

Instacart benefits too, noted Mehta. "When I was at Amazon, I saw firsthand how well the Amazon Prime model helped encourage customers to shop more frequently and to buy more at Amazon," he said. "We think that same model can be applied in the grocery delivery business."

Originally launched in San Francisco, Instacart has disrupted the traditional grocery delivery space with its crowdsourced labor force dubbed "Personal Shoppers" who shop for and deliver grocery orders using their own vehicles in as little as one hour. This eliminates the need for costly infrastructure such as warehouses, trucks and full-time drivers. Instacart keeps careful track of the price, location and availability of thousands of individual grocery items in the local stores in which it shops, to help its Personal Shoppers be as efficient as possible and enable rapid delivery. The service quickly became a favorite among San Franciscans for its convenience, speed and value.

Consumers can sign up for their free Instacart accounts at www.Instacart.com. The service is currently available in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Sunnyvale. Instacart plans to expand to 10 major cities across the U.S. by the end of 2014.

About InstacartInstacart is the only service that can deliver groceries from multiple local stores within an hour, and is often less expensive for consumers than a personal, time-consuming trip to the grocery store. Customers can choose from a variety of local stores including Safeway, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Costco, and can mix items from multiple stores into one order. Instacart is disrupting the traditional grocery delivery business with its approach, which utilizes a crowdsourced model for Personal Shoppers and needs no warehouses or trucks. Learn more at www.Instacart.com.